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Mackenzie Pipeline Gets Canadian Cabinet Approval

ICTMN Staff

3/12/11

Long-awaited federal approval has been granted for the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, part of the Mackenzie Gas Project, ConocoPhillips announced on March 11.

The 743-mile pipeline would run from the Beaufort Sea to northwestern Alberta and carry as much as 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily. There are also three onshore natural gas fields, a pipeline gathering system to bring gas from the development fields to a processing plant; a 285-mile pipeline to carry natural gas liquids from Inuvik, NWT to the pipeline at Norman Wells, and other facilities.

This was the final green light the pipeline needed, though financing is still uncertain for the $16.2 billion project, the Canadian Press reported. Approvals are still needed from other government agencies and local boards, the Canadian Press said, but this was the one the company had been striving for these past six years.

“It has been a long journey and a long process and we’re obviously pleased to see this,” Pius Rolheiser, a spokesman for one of the project leaders Imperial Oil Ltd., told the Canadian Press.

Next the project’s backers need to secure financing. Involved companies include ExxonMobil, Shell and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group. The Houston Business Journal said the project could still take another 10 years to get started.

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